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jpbjazz · 4 months

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LÉGENDES DU JAZZ

SONNY FORTUNE, LE DERNIER DES GUERRIERS

"Well, Sonny left it all on the bandstand, right up until the end."

- Reggie Marshall

Né le 19 mai 1939 à Philadelphie, en Pennsylvanie, Sonny Cornelius Fortune était le fils de Cornelius et Margaret Fortune. Le père de Fortune était chauffeur de camion. Malgré ses origines modestes, Fortune avait grandi dans un environnement où la musique était à l’honneur.

Fortune avait débuté dans la musique comme chanteur à l’adolescence. Fortune, qui adorait le rhythm & blues, avait modelé son style sur celui de ses groupes favoris des années 1950, les Spaniels, les Drifters et les Clovers.

Fortune était passé au saxophone à la fin de l’adolescence. Fortune avait étudié à la Granoff School of Music, où il avait eu comme camarades de classe de futurs grands noms du jazz comme John Coltrane et Dizzy Gillespie. Durant ses études, Fortune avait aussi décroché quelques contrats avec des groupes de rhythm & blues locaux.

Fortune avait été soumis très tôt aux responsabilités de la vie adulte. Marié dès l’âge de seize ans, il était déjà père de deux enfants deux ans plus tard. Fortune avait dix-huit ans lorsqu’il avait commencé à s’intéresser au jazz. La même année, son père avait fait le premier paiement sur son premier saxophone alto. Au début, Fortune s’attendait à maîtriser son instrument en seulement six mois. Lorsqu’il s’était aperçu que ce ne serait pas aussi facile qu’il le croyait, il avait rangé son saxophone dans un sac et ne l’avait pas ressorti avant un an. C’est à ce moment-là qu’il avait découvert John Coltrane. Il expliquait: “I became very disciplined. It was listening to John Coltrane’s ‘My Favorite Things’ that turned me around. His playing was about Black thought.”

Parmi les premières influences de Fortune, on remarquait aussi Charlie Parker et Sonny Rollins.

DÉBUTS DE CARRIÈRE

Fortune avait amorcé sa carrière en 1965 lorsqu’il avait co-dirigé une session de soul-jazz avec l’organiste Stan Hunter.

Après la mort de Coltrane en 1967, Fortune s’était installé à New York et s’était joint au groupe du batteur Elvin Jones. C’est d’ailleurs Coltrane qui avait recommandé Fortune à Jones peu avant sa mort. Fortune se produisait avec le groupe de Jones au Pookie’s Pub de Lower Manhattan lorsqu’il avait appris la mort de son mentor.

Durant cette période, avait aussi joué avec le saxophoniste Frank Foster. Décrivant son arrivée à New York, Fortune avait commenté: "Eventually, in order to find out if you really have what it takes, you have to go to the center, and that's New York...you can only do so much in your hometown."

De 1968 à 1969, Fortune avait accompagné le percussionniste afro-cubain Mongo Santamaría. Après s’être installé à Los Angeles en 1970, il avait brièvement joué avec le big band de Buddy Rich avec qui il avait enregistré un album en concert.

Après avoir passé sept mois en Californie, Fortune avait accompagné le chanteur d’avant-garde Leon Thomas avant de se joindre au groupe du pianiste McCoy Tyner dont il avait fait partie de 1971 à 1975. Le talent d’innovateur de Fortune était particulièrement mis en évidence sur les albums de Tyner ‘’Sahara’’ (1972), ‘’Song for My Lady’’ (1973) et ‘’Song of the New World’’ (1973).

En septembre 1974, Fortune avait été contacté par Miles Davis, qui lui avait proposé de remplacer le saxophoniste Dave Liebman avec son groupe. Même s’il avait déjà décliné une offre similaire pour demeurer avec le groupe de Tyner, Fortune n’avait pu laisser passer l’occasion de faire quelque chose de complètement différent. Fortune avait fait partie du groupe de Davis jusqu’au printemps 1975, alors qu’il avait cédé la place à Sam Morrison. Avec Davis, Fortune avait collaboré aux albums Big Fun (1974), Get Up With It (1974), Agharta et Pangaea (tous deux enregistrés au Japon en 1975). Décrivant sa collaboration avec le groupe de Davis, Fortune avait commenté: “Miles was definitely one of my heroes. It was an unbelievable experience. The music he was playing was somewhat out of my realm, but it was Miles.”

Après avoir quitté le groupe de Davis, Fortune avait joué avec le trompettiste Nat Adderley avant de former son propre groupe la même année.

Fortune avait enregistré un premier album comme leader en 1974 sous le titre de ‘’Long Before Our Mothers Cried.’’ L’album, qui avait été enregistré avec un groupe composé du trompettiste Charles Sullivan et du pianiste Stanley Cowell, mettait notamment en vedette une section de percussionnistes d’origine africaine et afro-cubaine.

La pièce-titre était une des cinq compositions de Fortune qui figuraient sur l’album. Fortune avait utilisé sensiblement les mêmes musiciens sur ses deux albums suivants intitulés respectivement Awakening (1975) et Waves of Dreams (1976) qui avaient été acclamés par la critique. Fortune avait enchaîné par la suite avec deux albums de jazz-fusion, Serengeti Minstrel (1977) et Infinity Is (1978), qui incorporaient des éléments de funk et de disco. En 1977, Fortune avait également fait une apparition sur l’album live The Atlantic Family Live at Montreux.

DERNIÈRES ANNÉES

Même s’il avait beaucoup moins enregistré dans les années 1980, Fortune avait fait un retour au milieu des années 1990, et avait enregistré plusieurs albums pour Blue Note. Parmi ces albums, on remarquait un hommage à Thelonious Monk intitulé Four in One (1994) qui mettait en vedette Kirk Lightsey au piano. En septembre 1995, Fortune avait enchaîné avec A Better Understanding, un album qui comprenait exclusivement du matériel original et qui avait été enregistré dans le cadre de différentes formations allant du duo au septet.

Ce deuxième album avait été suivi en septembre de 1996 de From Now On, un enregistrement de post-bop composé à la fois des compositions de Fortune et de créations d’autres artistes. L’album avait été enregistré avec une formation composée de John Hicks au piano, de Santi Debriano à la contrebasse et de Jeff "Tain" Watts à la batterie. Parmi les artistes invités qui avaient collaboré à l’album, on remarquait Eddie Henderson à la trompette et Joe Lovano au saxophone ténor.

En 2014, Fortune avait enregistré un album live intitulé Last Night at Sweet Rhythm dans lequel il avait fait ses adieux au célèbre club Sweet Basil de Greenwich Village qui était devenu pour lui une sorte de seconde résidence. L’ancien propriétaire du club, James Browne, avait confirmé: “Sweet Rhythm had an open door policy with Sonny, all he had to do was tell me when he wanted to play and that was his engagement. Sonny was all about the music and a man of great integrity.”

Durant cette période, Fortune avait aussi travaillé régulièrement avec un groupe en hommage à son ancien patron Miles Davis appelé 4 Generations of Miles qui comprenait le guitariste Mike Stern, le contrebassiste Buster Williams et le batteur Jimmy Cobb. Fortune avait également rendu hommage à son mentor John Coltrane dans le cadre de l’album de 2005 ‘’In the Spirit of John Coltrane.’’ Fortune était aussi membre du Coltrane Legacy Band aux côtés de McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones et Reggie Workman, tous d’anciens collaborateurs de Coltrane.

À la fin de sa carrière, Fortune avait également fondé la compagnie de disques Sound Reason. C’est avec cette compagnie que Fortune avait réédité certains de ses albums pour Blue Note, qui n’étaient plus disponibles sur le marché. Il avait aussi enregistré du nouveau matériel, dont “Continuum’’, un CD qui comprenait sept de ses compositions. Commentant la formation de sa compagnies de disques, Fortune avait déclaré: “My record label is my meager attempt to start my own business. We are consumers rather than owners in this society.”

Au cours de cette période, Fortune avait aussi joué en duo avec l’ancien percussionniste de Coltrane, Rashied Ali. Commentant une performance du duo en 2005, le critique du New York Times, Ben Ratliff, écrivait: “The age of superheroics in jazz is mostly behind us; musicians have found many other, more temperate strategies to hold an audience’s attention. But every time Sonny Fortune and Rashied Ali play duets it’s as if they’ve brought their capes and masks.”

Sonny Fortune est mort d’une attaque à New York le 15 octobre 2018. Il était âgé de soixante-dix neuf ans. Au moment de sa mort, Fortune était hospitalisé à l’hôpital du Mont Sinaï de New York après avoir subi différentes attaques le mois précédent. Ont survécu à Fortune son fils Dwayne, deux petits-enfants et une arrière-petit-fils. Fortune avait aussi une fille, Tina, mais celle-ci était morte en 2005. Le seul mariage de Fortune s’était terminé sur un divorce.

Selon son agent Reggie Marshall, Fortune avait livré sa dernière performance comme chef d’orchestre à la mi-juillet au Smoke Jazz and Supper Club de New York. Le groupe de Fortune était composé à l’époque du pianiste Michael Cochrane, du contrebassiste Calvin Hill et du batteur Steve Johns, un collaborateur de longue date qui l’accompagnait depuis 1999. Exprimant sa reconnaissance envers Fortune, Johns avait précisé: “I was so honored he liked what I did and was very proud that he believed in me.’’ Rendant hommage à Fortune, le batteur et professeur Ronnie Barrage, qui avait joué avec lui dans le groupe de McCoy Tyner, avait ajouté: “Sonny was one of my dearest friends and instrumental in my expansion of the music. My working with McCoy Tyner was because of him. Sonny was one of the last real warriors.”

Au cours de sa carrière, Fortune avait collaboré avec de nombreux musiciens de jazz, dont Miles Davis, Nat Adderley, George Cables, Ronnie Matthews, John Hicks, Elvin Jones, Dizzy Gillespie, Roy Brooks, Buddy Rich, George Benson, Rabih Abou Khalil, Roy Ayers, Oliver Nelson, Gary Bartz, Rashied Ali, Frank Foster et Pharoah Sanders. Musicien très éclectque, Fortune excellait tant dans le swing que le hard bop, le jazz-fusion, le hard salsa (aussi appelé salsa dura) et le free jazz. Décrivant sa polyvalence comme musicien, Fortune avait déclaré au cours d’une entrevue qu’il avait accordée au site All About Jazz en 2006: “The thing that I love about it is that the music itself has no boundaries. It expands itself as far as your imagination can go.”

Mais contrairement à d’autres admirateurs de John Coltrane, Fortune n’avait jamais été un simple imitateur et avait toujours un style très personnel. Comme le critique John S. Wilson l’écrivait dans le New York Times en 1975, Fortune avait su conserver ‘’he full tonal qualities of his instruments in much the same way that Duke Ellington's great baritone saxophonist. Harry Carney, did. Richness and completeness of tone are combined with great facility in almost everything he plays."

Très préoccupé par le sort du peuple afro-américain, Fortune avait précisé: “It’s a travesty for Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., Langston Hughes and others to have said what they said and for us to be where we are at today. I saw jazz as a step up. So how can we step up to be more accountable, reliable and understandable? I am more concerned about my people recognizing their worth than I am about jazz.”

Fortune avait toujours joué de façon très intense. Décrivant le style de Fortune, un critique avait commenté:

‘’To watch Fortune play alto saxophone is equivalent to being in the eye of a hurricane with winds blowing at 160 miles per hour. He plays with the riveting intensity of an improvisational jazz wizard dispensing notes sharper than Othello’s dagger dripping with callisthenic rhythms that dare to explode the sun. Fortune once remarked, “When I play I’m playing for real.” He is the living torch, playing in the tradition of influential giants John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins and Charlie Parker.

Même s’il était d’abord saxophoniste alto, Fortune était devenu avec les années un multi-instrumentiste accompli et excellait aussi aux saxophones soprano, ténor et baryton. Il jouait ainsi de la clarinette et de la flûte. Saxophoniste sous-estimé, Fortune n’avait cependant pas toujours obtenu la reconnaissance qu’il méritait pour tout ce qu’il avait apporté au monde du jazz.

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architectnews · 2 years

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The Lindemann Performing Arts Center Brown University

Lindemann Performing Arts Center Brown University, College Hill Campus Providence, Rhode Island Building

The Lindemann Performing Arts Center for Brown University

University Building, College Hill Campus, RI design by REX, architects, USA

post updated May 25, 2022

Brown names The Lindemann Performing Arts Center

Architects: REX Architecture

Location: College Hill Campus, Providence, Rhode Island, USA

Images © LUXIGON

Lindemann Performing Arts Center at Brown University

The name for the center, set to open in 2023, honors Brown Corporation member Frayda Lindemann and her late husband, George Lindemann Sr., a longtime University supporter, business executive and art collector.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (Brown University) — Brown University will name its new state-of-the-art performance venue The Lindemann Performing Arts Center.

The center’s name recognizes a generous gift from Frayda B. Lindemann — a Brown University trustee, proud Brown parent and grandparent, and president and CEO of the board of directors at the Metropolitan Opera in New York — alongside her late husband, George Lindemann Sr., a longtime University benefactor, business executive and art collector who died in 2018.

The Lindemann Performing Arts Center, slated to open in the heart of Brown’s campus in fall 2023, will build on the University’s reputation as a premier destination for cutting-edge scholarship and performance in many artistic disciplines, including music, theater, dance, literary art, visual art and multiple kinds of experimental collaborations.

The Lindemanns are providing crucial support for the construction and operation of the unique, flexible space, which features a state-of-the-art main hall that can transform into five different configurations for a variety of performances and presentations; a suite of modern studios custom-designed for theater, music, dance and other artistic explorations; and a transparent “slice” of windows through the main level that invites the Brown and Providence communities to witness and engage in the artmaking process.

The center’s name was unveiled on Tuesday, May 24, during a small celebration with University leaders, faculty and staff from the Brown Arts Institute, and members of the Lindemann family. The building’s name is visible to passersby in Providence, etched into the façade of the building where construction continues on Angell Street, adjacent to the Granoff Center for the Creative Arts.

According to University President Christina H. Paxson, with the opening of The Lindemann Performing Arts Center on the horizon, Brown is positioned to become a top destination for world-class arts scholars, students committed to the arts, international artists and regional community members who will be invited to make, present and witness work in the new center. The center’s placement next to the Granoff Center creates a strong hub on campus for creativity, expression, experimentation and discovery.

“We see a future where Brown is the primary destination for students who want to fully integrate the arts into a complete education, and The Lindemann Performing Arts Center is an important part of that vision,” Paxson said. “By supporting artistic scholarship and innovation in this truly one-of-a-kind space, Frayda Lindemann is helping the University create a distinctive home for generations of talented students, faculty, community members and visiting artists.”

Mrs. Lindemann said that before her husband died, he was looking forward to supporting the Performing Arts Center project, which will expand Brown’s ability to create and stage new and existing works, combine art forms and welcome world-renowned faculty and artists to learn from and inspire students across disparate fields of study. She said that she and Paxson share a belief that the arts play a critical role — not only in higher education settings but also in communities everywhere.

“The arts are what make us human and separate us from other species,” Mrs. Lindemann said. “Science, technology and medicine are crucially important to furthering innovation and saving lives, it’s true — but music, fine art, dance and theater are equally important, because they help us remember our humanity.”

When completed, the center’s main hall will boast moveable walls, floors, seats, curtains, ceiling and lights — giving University and community artists the option to have the space tailored to their specific structural, aesthetic and acoustic needs. The building will also feature a 13-foot horizontal windowed “clearstory” that slices through the main level, revealing the interior of the main hall and the Diana Nelson and John Atwater Lobby to passersby in every direction.

“The 23rd-century vision for a performance hall that has walls that move will be a remarkable asset to the boundlessly creative students and arts faculty at Brown,” Mrs. Lindemann said. “And I’m intrigued by how the transparent, lit-up main floor will enable community members at Brown and in Providence to see their peers create exciting performances as they walk by. When you see art getting made, you feel something — you leave the day-to-day of our world and enter a special place.”

In addition to the range of configurations available in the center’s main hall — from a 625-seat symphony orchestra hall, to a 250-seat proscenium theater, to an immersive surround-sound cube for experimental media and a flat-floor configuration for film or visual art installations — a suite of modern studios, rehearsal spaces and intimate performance venues custom-designed for theater, music, dance and other art forms will serve as everyday academic resources for Brown students and faculty.

Avery Willis Hoffman, artistic director of the Brown Arts Institute, said that thanks in large part to the Lindemann family’s generosity, the center is sure to inspire future generations of student, faculty and community artists to create cutting-edge, original artwork and re-examine well-known works, practices and traditions. Hoffman said that in addition to world-class projects by international visiting artists, The Lindemann Performing Arts Center will host the work of artists, performers and scholars in Brown’s six arts departments and Rites and Reason Theatre, all of whom are affiliated with the BAI.

“This investment in the PAC is also an investment in the BAI,” Hoffman said. “It enables the BAI to dream even bigger as we fulfill our goals of cultivating creative expression, stimulating discovery and fueling innovative thinking, on campus and beyond.”

Building on a lifelong passion for the arts

Frayda Lindemann earned a Ph.D. in musicology from Columbia University, and from 1980 to 1991 was an associate professor of musicology and music history at Hunter College, where she completed her bachelor’s degree. From 2012 to 2016, she chaired the board of directors at Opera America, an organization that serves more than 150 opera companies across the United States and Canada; she was the first board chair in the organization’s history who had never directed an opera company. The Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at the Metropolitan Opera, which nurtures some of the nation’s most talented young opera artists through training and performance opportunities is the largest and most prestigious of its kind.

The couple’s history with Brown began when two of their children attended the University in the 1980s. Two of their grandchildren also chose to attend Brown, inspired in part by the previous generation’s positive experiences on campus.

“All of my children and grandchildren who attended Brown have thrived there — it’s such a happy place,” Mrs. Lindemann said. “My husband felt very strongly about investing in a place that made our children and grandchildren into such passionate people and creative thinkers. His generosity is the basis of our support for Brown, past and present.”

The proposed design of the PAC, with its changeable main hall and welcoming transparent “slice,” piqued the Lindemanns’ interest in supporting arts scholarship and performance at Brown, she added. The building was designed by the architecture firm REX, led by founder and principal Joshua Ramus, who is himself a musician.

“Frayda is deeply passionate about the arts, and she and I are both committed to supporting performing artists before all else,” Ramus said. “She completely understood my vision for the design of Brown’s performing arts center. I wanted to create a building that was ambitious — but most importantly, one that didn’t get in the way of empowering everyone from performers to artistic directors to stagehands to do their best work.”

Mrs. Lindemann said she and George Lindemann Sr. were also impressed by the University’s vision for the future of the arts at Brown — a vision in which The Lindemann Performing Arts Center will play a key role.

“President Paxson’s plans are ambitious and future-thinking,” Mrs. Lindemann said. “She wants Brown to lead the way in changing the landscape of the arts in the Ivy League, to make the arts more accessible to surrounding communities. George Sr. and I admired her deeply for that.”

Previously on e-architect:

Feb 14, 2019

Performing Arts Center for Brown University

Brown University Performing Arts Center Building Design: REX Architecture

Location: College Hill Campus, Providence, Rhode Island, United States of America

Performing Arts Center for Brown University

With a radical, one-of-a-kind approach to spatial, acoustic and technical flexibility, Brown University’s planned Performing Arts Center (PAC) is designed to inspire innovative new art-making, enable unprecedented artistic collaboration and serve as a hub for performance at Brown.

Performing Arts Center for Brown University, Rhode Island

REX Architecture

Performing Arts Center for Brown University, Rhode Island images / information from REX

Private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States, founded in 1764.

Previously on e-architect:

Jun 5, 2017 Brown University Performing Arts Center Building, Providence, RI, USA Brown University Performing Arts Center

Address: Providence, RI 02912, USA Phone: +1 401-863-1000

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